Page:Ritchie - Trails to Two Moons.djvu/175

 gate banging behind her, the high spiked wall and the barred windows in the side of the courthouse building so near her, all these things of a sudden spelled menace, a threat direct against her. The spirit of outlawry that had grown within her these past few days of tumbled incidents was potent to make her believe the law's eyes could read outlawry on her features.

Uncle Alf was holding forth as Sheriff Agnew busied himself loosing the rope that held the Killer's legs under the horse's belly. Sonorously and with frequent interjection of Biblical quotation the evangelist detailed how the calling in the wilderness had directed him to the man of blood. As for the Killer, his ugly face registered manifest relief that the passage of Main Street had been concluded with no unhappy consequences to his person. He appreciated keenly what might be the temper of the town toward him.

"Now," quoth Agnew, "just you folks hop into the house with the missis and get a feed of hot cakes and some coffee while I lock this bird into a cell." Hospitality possessed his voice; there was no hint of a lurking sense of official duty which might carry beyond the disposition of the prisoner.